Hall of Fame Voting: This Year, Next Year, and Beyond

[HahnSolo]

Wow. Yes to Dawson, Murphy, Parker, and Trammell, but no to Jim Rice?

[Valadius]

40 minutes remain until the results.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Who's the "Good News Guy" now that Jack Lang is dead at the present time?

[Guest AG/DC]

OK, I'll go for

Rich Gossage
Tim Raines
Bert Blyleven
Alan Trammell

[seawolf17]

I couldn't find my votes in this thread. I always use all ten of my votes:

Tim Raines
Bert Blyleven
Andre Dawson
Rich Gossage
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Dave Parker
Jim Rice
Alan Trammell

[Benjamin Grimm]

The only thing I'm rooting for this time around is a low vote total for McGwire. I hope that his rejection last year wasn't just a result of voters not wanting him to be a first-ballot guy.

[Guest sharpie]

Gossage and no one else for me.

I could be talked into Raines and maybe McGwire.

[seawolf17]

Looks like it's just Goose, which is crap. Rice got skrooed.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I still don;t know what to think of releivers but to say that Gossage appears qualified based on what other RPs in already have accomplished -- he's comparable and in some ways better.

I also have been convinced of Blyleven. My instinct is to vote yea on Raines.

[seawolf17]

Rich "Goose" Gossage 466 (85.8%)
Jim Rice 392 (72.2%)
Andre Dawson 358 (65.9%)
Bert Blyleven 336 (61.9%)
Lee Smith 235 (43.3%)
Jack Morris 233 (42.9%)
Tommy John 158 (29.1%)
Tim Raines 132 (24.3%)
Mark McGwire 128 (23.6%)
Alan Trammell 99 (18.2%)
Dave Concepcion 88 (16.2%)
Don Mattingly 86 (15.8%)
Dave Parker 82 (15.1%)
Dale Murphy 75 (13.8%)
Harold Baines 28 (5.2%)

You Gotta Be Kidding Me: Rod Beck 2 (0.4%), Travis Fryman 2 (0.4%), Robb Nen 2 (0.4%), Shawon Dunston 1 (0.2%), Chuck Finley 1 (0.2%), David Justice 1 (0.2%), Chuck Knoblauch 1 (0.2%), Todd Stottlemyre 1 (0.2%)

Brady Anderson 0
Jose Rijo 0

[Benjamin Grimm]

MLB.com wrote: In the wake of last month's Mitchell Report, Mark McGwire, the first star player tainted by the steroids era to face the electorate, finished at 23.6 percent, almost exactly the same place as last year, when he also received 128 votes despite hitting 70 homers in 1998 to win his famous record home run race against Sammy Sosa and finishing with 583 in his career. In 2007, McGwire also received an underwhelming 23.5 percent.

I'm pleased.

Jim Rice, meanwhile, missed by just 16 votes.

[seawolf17]

I don't think McGwire will ever get in; Rice should finally be in next year.

[Vic Sage]

Rich Gossage
Tim Raines
Bert Blyleven

And i wouldn't be upset if Dawson, Parker, Rice, Trammell and/or Murphy got alot of votes, too.

I'm on the fence about McGwire.

no to Morris, Lee smith

[Guest sharpie]

I'm pleased.

Gossage was the only one that really screamed "Hall of Fame player" at me.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Spend some time with Roger Clemens. He'll probably scream it at you too.

[Guest sharpie]

He'd throw a bat shard at me too.

[Frayed Knot]

Next year is Rice's last shot via the regular process and he'll probably get in then.
Of course why someone would vote for him simply because it's the last time around when they didn't during ballots #1-14 is beyond me ... but I suspect that's what'll happen.

The vote total for Raines is shockingly low IMO.
The 'no one on the first ballot' theory is another one I find perplexing but, even for a 1st try, the pct is so low that it doesn't bode well for 'The Rock' joining the fraternity anytime soon.

[Valadius]

I knew I'd be angry with the voting today.

Jim Rice barely misses. Ridiculous. Tim Raines scores disappointingly low for a clearly worthy player. The one promising thing is that Dawson looks like he will definitely get in soon, and Blyleven may yet get in.

I'm hoping Rickey can help carry Rock into the Hall.

[Frayed Knot]

I suspect Rickey's presence on the ballot (next year) will hurt Rock as there may be a certain portion of voters who don't want to want the lesser of the two similar players to go in first or together. It's an idiotic way to think but I bet it's the case for at least some.

Rock's pct might start to go up the year after Rickey's in.

[Guest AG/DC]

Check out Harold Baines and his 5.2% of the vote, staying alive by a single ballot, more or less.

[Valadius]

What cap will Goose be wearing? Likely MFYs, I guess.

[Vic Sage]

[u:f7d0988f67] Name (year on ballot) - HOFM** / HOFCS** (2008 vote%)[/u:f7d0988f67]
Jim Rice (15th) - 146 / 43 (72.2%) *
Andre Dawson (8th) - 118 / 43 (65.9%)
Bert Blyleven (12th) - 120 / 50 (61.9%)
Lee Smith (7th) - 135 / 13 (43.3%)
Jack Morris (10th) - 122 / 39 (42.9%)
Tommy John (15th) - 111 / 44 (29.1%) *
Tim Raines (2nd) - 90 / 46 (24.3%)
Mark McGwire (3rd) - 169 / 42 (23.6%)
Alan Trammell (9th) - 118 / 36 (18.2%)
Don Mattingly (9th) - 133 / 34 (15.8%)
Dave Parker (13th) - 125 / 41 (15.1%)
Dale Murphy (11th) - 115 / 34 (13.8%)
Harold Baines (3rd) - 66.5 / 43 (5.2%)

[u:f7d0988f67]1st year[/u:f7d0988f67]
Ricky Henderson, and
Steve Avery, Jay Bell, Mike Bordick, John Burkett, David Cone, Ron Gant, Mark Grace, Charles Nagy, Denny Neagle, Jesse Orosco, Dean Palmer, Dan Plesac, Rick Reed, Greg Vaughn, Mo Vaughn, Matt Williams, Mike Williams

[u:f7d0988f67]off ballot[/u:f7d0988f67]
Dave Concepcion (15+) - 106 / 25.9
Robb Nen (1st) - 92 / 15
Chuck Knoblauch (1st) - 66.5 / 33.8
Chuck Finley (1st) - 53.5 /27
David Justice (1st) - 43.5 / 28.7
Rod Beck (1st) - 63 / 13
Brady Anderson (1st) - 38 / 26
Travis Fryman (1st) - 36 / 26.4
Jose Rijo (1st) - 28 / 20
Todd Stottlemyre (1st) - 15 / 13
Shawon Dunston (1st) - 14 / 16.9

* last year on ballot
** HOF monitor [100+ = HOF credentials]
** HOF Career Standards [50+ = average HOFer]

[stevejrogers]

Valadius wrote: What cap will Goose be wearing? Likely MFYs, I guess.

Should there be any doubt? Most years played, only ring, most of his big save years, including both of his 30+ years.

His 4 Padre years are like Carter's Met years, great for the first couple, but downward spiral to player good enough to hang around a few extra years. Other than that it's the White Sox with the first 5 years of his career where he didn't get the closer job until his 4th year, and the next year, 1976, they made him a starter!

[stevejrogers]

Inneresting Gossage tidbit, only player to be an active MLB player in every labor related work stoppage. Starting with his first year in 1972, all the way up to his final big league appearance in 1994.

[nymr83]

24% for Raines is a disgrace. strip the other 76% of the writers of their ballots.

[Guest AG/DC]

I can't think of a National League offensive player I would have rather had for the duration of 1981-1990 (best era in baseball history).

Gwynn, maybe. But Gwynn didn't play a full season until 1984.

[Gwreck]

Dale Murphy and Andre Dawson come to mind as the two closest contenders.

[Guest AG/DC]

And they're perfectly cromulent contenders. Neither knocks out my guy, though. For my money, it's Raines.

The eighties are funny. The game was played with such balance --- particularly in the National League --- that voters are being stingey about pitchers and hitters.

[seawolf17]

And at the time, would you have even thought that none of those guys -- Dawson, Raines, Rice, Murphy, Jack Morris -- were HoFers? They ripped up the league, played on All-Star teams every year... they were dominant players who are just not getting any love. I don't get it.

[Guest AG/DC]

Maybe I just don't care about the American League, but Jack Morris is no big deal to me.

Maybe all that astroturf (or a paucity of steroids) just kept players from putting a long fattish tail on the ends of their careers.

Of course, some folks thought there were seven Hall-of-Famers in the Reds lineup in the seventies. It turned out there were three, and one of them people are whining about.